The Breakdown

 

The thoughts and glimpses of the past and the pain which I had suffered long ago were dancing again in front of me. I wanted to get over it once and for all.

“Hi.” The message popped up on the projector as I was giving the client a demo.

Soon after, another message appeared: "How are you doing these days, miss?”

Excuse me, I muttered as I hurried to log out the social media app on my laptop, which had remained open from the action I took last night. Those messages invited a playful smile on everyone’s face. Ignoring the embarrassment, I quickly finished rest of the presentation and raced my steps out of the room.

“So how are you doing these days, miss? Let's have dinner tonight,” whispered a high-pitched, thin, playful tone behind my back. It was Genny. I turned back and smacked her shoulder with my laptop. “Shut up, its nothing like that!” I replied as I defended my privacy from being invaded.

Genny has moved to New York for many different reasons. She wanted some change in her life; working as a Chartered Accountant in her previous company gave her no thrill, she came here to pursue some business courses for an year and to get an internship in my company.

I hurried towards my desk, buried my laptop in the drawer, and rushed towards the washroom to have a moment for myself. I looked at myself in the mirror; my face looked terrible. I splashed some water on my face and waited to regain my calm. I puffed my lungs with some air and searched for my phone. It was Derik, and the acceptance of his request gave him the freedom to crawl into my inbox. I re-read the messages and felt emotionally sick.

Why did I even accept his request? What was wrong with me last night? What a blunder I have created for myself, haha! With all such questions in my mind, I wanted to run to Genny for help, but things were not the same between us anymore either. With the passage of time, every friendship of mine was getting colder and more formal. It lacked the same bond that we used to share in my childhood together. She flew to New York so that I could support her in some way or another. I took a step back. I lacked a cordial connection at that moment. After accepting all these weird thoughts, I splashed some water on my face again, fixed my lipstick, and came out.

I brought my focus back to work and decided to handle these private things privately. I buried my screen for the next 3 hours uninterruptedly. When I looked for the time, the clock stuck at 9, and there was no one in the hall except for one guy who was working at the other corner of the floor. I got up from the chair and stretched my shoulders and back. I checked my phone for any important notifications. The pop-up returned to the screen to revert to the text, which also returned my emotional sickness. I was broken from the inside. 

I hugged my knees close to my chest, sat on the floor, and closed my eyes. The thoughts and glimpses of the past and the pain which I had suffered long ago were dancing again in front of me. I wanted to get over it once and for all.

What are you doing here? I have been looking out for you in the entire office. Your bag caught my attention. What's wrong? He asked as he kneeled down to sit beside me to understand me better. Are you okay? Did someone say anything to you? Are you hurt anywhere? Why are you sitting like this here? He inquired with a thousand other questions. He held my face in his huge, well-sculpted hands and asked again in his heavy, husky voice, What happened? Tell me. I looked at him with my puppy eyes filled with tears. My face flushed with confusing emotions and turned hot. His hands felt cold to me.

I ran into his arms like a child and hugged him. He placed his strong arms around my waist and hugged me back. I melted at that moment and cried badly.

In continuity to  - The Friend Request(Part 2)

Hit the above link to read the previous blog for the entire story.